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  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Butte Creek

Past Producer in Alaska, United States with commodity Gold
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Materials information
  7. Mineral occurrence model information
  8. Host and associated rocks
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  11. Mining district
  12. Links to other databases
  13. Bibliographic references
  14. General comments
  15. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10001463
MRDS ID A012211
Record type Site
Current site name Butte Creek
Related records 10232799

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -145.56488, 65.40361 (WGS84)
Relative position Butte Creek is a tributary to Birch Creek. Butte Creek enters Birch Creek just south of the Steese Highway, approximately 1 mile east of the Bear Creek-Steese Highway junction. The coordinates are for the approximate center of extensive placer mining along the lower 3.2 km of the creek.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Yukon-Koyukuk(Census area)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Circle B-4(quadrangle 1:63,360 scale)

Circle SE(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Circle C(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Alaska(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Gold Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Gold Ore

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 119
USGS model code 39a
Deposit model name Placer Au-PGE
Mark3 model number 54

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Gravel

Nearby scientific data

(1) -145.56488, 65.40361
ListMap

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The drainage basin of Butte Creek lies within the Upper Schist unit of Wiltse and others (1995), which they describe as a mixed unit of variably garnetiferous, pelitic quartz-muscovite schist, muscovite-quartz schist, chlorite-quartz muscovite schist, and distinct intervals several tens of meters thick of garnetiferous, calcareous albite-porphyroblastic muscovite-chlorite schist containing interlayered, 3 to 5 cm thick impure marble.? A pebble count of gravel in the lower part of Butte Creek reveals a composition of 43 percent quartzite, 26 percent quartz, 18 percent garnet schist, and 13 percent mica schist. The gravel in Butte Creek is coarse and typically contains boulders of quartz and quartzite as much as 0.5 meters in diameter (Yeend, 1991).? A hydraulic plant was installed in 1916 but operated only a short time because of scarcity of water (Brooks, 1918). Placer mining was reported in 1916, 1937 and perhaps 1932 (Eberlein and others, 1977, p. 19). A dragline excavating plant was operated on the creek in 1937. Weighted mean of all gold mined through 1937 was 900 parts gold and 88 parts silver per thousand (Mertie, 1938). Extensive mining was done in the lower 3.2 km of the creek in the 1980's (Yeend, 1991). The upper parts of the creek are unmined, have steep gradients, and small volumes of gravel (Yeend, 1991).

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Metallic

Comments on exploration

  • Status = Inactive

Mining district

District name Circle

Comments on the production information

  • Production Notes = Mining has been reported (see workings/exploration); however, amount of production is unknown.

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = A hydraulic plant was installed in 1916 but operated only a short time because of scarcity of water (Brooks, 1918). Placer mining was reported in 1916, 1937 and perhaps 1932 (Eberlein and others, 1977, p. 19). A dragline excavating plant was operated on the creek in 1937. Weighted mean of all gold mined through 1937 was 900 parts gold and 88 parts silver per thousand (Mertie, 1938). Extensive mining was done in the lower 3.2 km of the creek in the 1980's (Yeend, 1991). The upper parts of the creek are unmined, have steep gradients, and small volumes of gravel (Yeend, 1991).

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Yeend, 1991.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Placer gold deposit (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a)

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 08-SEP-98 C.J. Freeman Avalon Development Corporation
Reporter 08-SEP-98 J.R. Guidetti Schaefer Avalon Development Corporation
Reporter 08-SEP-98 Clements, A.S. Avalon Development Corporation

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Alaska resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.